Torche - Harmonicraft

It becomes more and more evident that 2012 was a brilliant year, record wise. I'm having a hard time putting a best of list as I have at least 20 albums that I want on a top ten spot...

Torche's "Harmonicraft" is one of them. This is really another one of those incredibly interesting bands that you can't put into one genre. There is equal parts Baroness, Mastodon and Foo Fighters, to name a few. I would probably call it sludge-pop.

It's a really cool vinyl edition with a lollipop coloured slip mat and the album is presented on a clear vinyl.

Slottsfjell day two.

As stated in previous posts, Friday had a lot more to offer music wise than Thursday. First up was Black Tusk at the stage on top of the hill. The rain was pouring down and there was even some thunder and lightning which made the attendence a quite small one. The lucky ones who were there though got a great show as the band didn't let the weather slow them down.

It's amazing the quality stuff the town of Savannah, GA, has provided over the last few years. Kylesa, Baroness and Black Tusk. Is Savannah the sludge metal capital of the world?

Next up was Tortoise, a highly influentual 90's alternative band. If you haven't heard this band yet you're certain to have heard bands and artists influenced by them during the past decade or so. This is really good rhythmic instrumental post-rock/krautrock/indie/alternative... Call it what you want, it's good music!

Timbuktu and his band Damn! has a great ability to make people dance. That they did today as well. Great versions of some of his classic early 00's songs that I listened to a lot at the time.

After a short food break we were ready for some more punk metal. This time it was served by the canadians in Cancer Bats. They were ok, their sound was a bit too "american" and straight forward for me. They did a cool cover of Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" though.

One of the biggest signings the festival made this year, for me was Wolfmother. I've seen them twice before and they have always been great. This time wasn't that different either. The only small complaint I have with them is that when you have such a great set of tracks you can play from both of your albums (especially the first one) you should really show it. At a festival like this you have limited time (they played for about an hour), so I don't like it when they use lots of time doing jams. "White Unicorn" ended up in a The Doorsy druged out jam. I also wonder what the band had been drinking/smoking before they went on stage? They didn't exactly seem sober at stage. They still manage to deliver the goods so no complaints about it.

Finally we saw a couple of songs by Pure Love, the band of the former Gallows singer. An ok band that may have some potential.

All in all it was a great day and today should be nothing short of that either. Starting with Graveyard early in the afternoon and ending with New Order tonight. Looking forward to it!

See you at Fjellet!

Black Tusk in pouring rain.

The shoes were white before I went to the festival. And they looked even worse when I got home last night.

Tortoise.

Timbuktu & Damn! put on a great show.

Cancer Bats, the highlight being a cool cover of Beastie Boys "Sabotage"

Wolfmother. One of the highlights of the festival so far.

Finally we saw some of the Pure Love set.

Baroness - Yellow & Green vinyl!

Finally we arrived at the day where we got the new Baroness vinyl in our store! Obviously I had to bring one copy home with me.

I've listened to it a few times on various streaming services, but it's nice to finally have the product in your hands. I'm still waiting for my special edition copy sent from Relapse Records. This version is the standard black vinyl version. As Relapse is one of the worst labels to collect, I'll keep it to these two versions.

I'm really happy with the result on "Yellow & Green". It not be what you would've expected but Baroness makes their music feel fresh and forwardthinking and still bringing in some of their roots. The new album has really made some of their old fans angry about the musical path that Baroness has chosen. You could though already on the "Blue Record" hear some of what was in wait for Baroness fans. Much like Mastodon I wouldn't call Baroness a great metal band anymore, but simply a great rock 'n' roll band!

The record is a double album, clocks in at approx. 75 minutes. It's divided into two parts, simply the Yellow part and the Green part. On some editions of this vinyl the vinyls are yellow and green, which to me is quite cool. The two parts are quite similar, the green part being slightly more mellow perhaps.

All in all a great album so far!

Baroness - Yellow & Green stream.

On the NPR Music website you're able to stream the new Baroness album "Yellow And Green". It's not released in physical form for another week and I hope my copy of the vinyl will arrive in a couple of weeks (sometimes, shipment from the US can take some time...)

I haven't listened to the stream yet, maybe I'll wait for the vinyl or maybe I'll cave in and stream the album...

Half way through 2012.

So we're just over halfway through the year of 2012. I'm sad to say that it hasn't been the awesome year, record wise, as 2011 was...

All in all I got about 80 records from last year but so far I only have 15-20 records from this year. I don't think that I will get anywhere near as many records this year, there just aren't that many good ones to look forward too.

I have a couple on pre-order that I'm really looking forward to (Katatonia and Baroness) and I'm gonna get the Smashing Pumpkins album the next time I'm at The Garden.

The best record of the year so far is without a doubt The Mars Volta's seventh album "Noctourniquet". I'm wating for it to arrive in the mail box, it was sent from the US two weeks ago so it should be here any day now. I'll write more about the album once I've got the vinyl.

Other records worth mentioning:
Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
Beach House - Bloom
High On Fire - De Vermiis Mysteriis
Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral
Meshuggah - Koloss
Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
Napalm Death - Utilitarian
Skraeckoedlan - Äppelträdet

Baroness - Yellow & Green

I'm really looking forward to get my hands on this new Baroness album. It's called "Yellow & Green" following the "Blue Record" and "Red Record". Below is a taste of what's coming from the record. It's not as sludgy as before, which I kind of miss, it's a bit more "pop" if you can call it that. Hopefully this follows the build up to Mastodon's last album "The Hunter" where the first two songs were "Curl Of The Burl" and "Black Tongue", where both were a bit more "popish" than their earlier material but it fitted perfectly on the record.